Colby Covington turned 38-years-old last month, and after being frustrated at missing out on a spot at the UFC: White House event, the veteran has now admitted that he doesn’t intend to continue fighting for much longer.
“For UFC, I think, probably in the next year or so, I’m going to be done with it, because you don’t want to take too many shots to the head when you’re later in age,” Covington told N3on. “And my body is slowing down; my metabolism doesn’t recover like it used to. So, when I train two or three times, I don’t recover like I used to in my 20s. So, I see myself done in the next year or so.”
That being said, Covington still sees an opportunity to still continue to compete in another sport for many more years to come.
“Wrestling, I know I can do for another six, seven, eight years, because it’s low-impact.”
It’s not clear how many fights Covington is looking to have over this next year, but what he is sure about is that he’s looking for meaningful match-ups.
“I want big names,” Covington said. “I want something that gets me excited to get out of bed. They’re talking about fighting nobodies or no-names that do nothing for me. I would just be fighting for money. I don’t want to just fight for money. I want to fight for legacy.”
That being said, Covington admits that in the end he has little choice but to either accept the fights the UFC gives him, or sit on the sidelines.
“You have no say,” Covington said. “Hunter Campbell, who is like the UFC lawyer, he kind of just tells you what direction they’re going to go, and it’s either you take it or leave it. So, you don’t really get a choice what you want to do. They just leave you. They ice you. They won’t give you fights. They’ll just let you sit out there. They’ll say, ‘Hey, you turned down this fight, now you’re not going to fight for the year. You’re not going to make money.’ They’ll freeze you out.
“Even if it’s not a good move, and you’re not getting paid what you think you deserve, it doesn’t matter. They say, ‘You either accept it and be a company man, or we’ll just ice you, and you don’t get a fight to make money.’”
